• Student

And how are things in Linköping?

In a city that nobody knows and that nobody can pronounce correctly, we are spending our Erasmus experience together. We are Kari Luijt (Human Technology Interaction), Kobi Delahay (Operations Management & Logistics), and Irne Verwijst (Data Science & Artificial Intelligence). We are currently studying at Linköping University in Sweden, the country of fika, IKEA, and queueing. And we enjoy it very much!

Through the grapevine, we heard that the three of us were planning on going to the same small city in Sweden. We decided to have a drink at Hubble to meet up and we hit it off. The next time we saw each other again was in Linköping in January. It was cold and dark, but that didn’t spoil the fun. We are now even convinced that the weather is better here than in the Netherlands. It barely rains and there is more sun! Of course, it’s colder, but we learned: layers, layers, layers.

The main photo shows us at a student festival on the university campus. From left to right: Kobi, Kari and Irne.

We all got a room through the university in a corridor in the Ryd neighborhood for students. In this neighborhood, which is only 5 minutes from the university by bike, the streets are full of student flats. Upon arrival, the theme was clear: IKEA. All furniture and kitchenware were bought there. What you will also see in your corridor are your roommates, but this encounter was different than we were used to. Apparently, the Swedes are a bit shy at first…

All three of us went on a trip to Lapland, where we saw the northern lights.

Photo | 90DegreesNorth AB

The student culture in Linköping is in some ways quite similar to ours, except that an overall is a must-have student garment. Almost all students have one here. Every department has their own colors and style. Everyone personalizes it by sewing their name on one leg and some patches on the other. You can collect the patches at parties, as a memory of your adventures. After our ‘Overall Inauguration’ (a low-key hazing), we also had to sit behind the sewing machine for a few hours…The photo shows our overalls after the overall inauguration, which included rolling through the mud.

Photo | Private collection

Another aspect of Swedish culture is the phenomenon of queueing. In the Netherlands, we can buy our tickets to a party online, at the door, or we don’t have to buy them at all. Here it is quite normal to queue for about two hours for a ticket. The moment the location of the ticket sale is shared, you start running there to queue. Then you will have to wait for an hour for the sale to start, so you will be there easily for two to three hours. Some times your alarm goes off at 04:00 because ticket sales start at 06:00. Because the ticket sale itself is also quite slow you are then waiting outside in the snow for 3 hours. For the really popular parties the lines are sometimes 3 days and Swedes even take a tent to stay overnight.

In a moose park during a road trip. From left to right Irne, Kari and Kob and next to them fellow student Mathieu. Photo | Private collection

As can be expected, the food in Sweden is quite expensive; a bell pepper is easily more than 2 euros. Despite this, all Swedish students eat a warm meal for lunch. Where Atlas has one or two microwaves on each floor, the library at LiU has rooms with about 30 microwaves. Still, you have to queue here.

Something the Swedes are really good at is having fika. It’s an improved coffee break to socialize with your colleagues or fellow students. Sometimes you have a nice pastry, which Swedes are really good at baking! Something else they’re really good at is ice hockey. We have already attended a few games to support Linköping’s team with their home supporters!

Hej då from Linköping (to be pronounced as Linshuhping)

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